(As of 12:01AM)
PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS:
(WHL)
Victoria Royals 5 Prince George Cougars 1
The Royals erased a 1-0 deficit (on a Rhett Rhinehart goal) by scoring twice in the second and three more in the third.
It was the sixth consecutive road loss for the Cougars, who have dropped four in a row and eight of their last nine overall.
Brock Gould made 34 saves to pick up the win for the Royals while Isaiah DiLaura stopped 29 of 34 shots.
The 11-18-1-2 Cougars are last in the BC Division, two points behind the (12-15-2-1) Kamloops Blazers, six back of (15-13-1) Victoria, and seven behind the (15-17-2) Kelowna Rockets.
The Blazers lost 5-3 in Kootenay while the Rockets dropped a 5-1 decision in Calgary.
Prince George and (11-15-3) Seattle are tied for last in the Western Conference, but the Thunderbirds have three games in hand.
Seattle lost 5-3 to the visiting Spokane Chiefs.
The Cougars play Sunday in Langley against the (21-7-2) Vancouver Giants in their final game prior to the Christmas break.
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PG Cougars goaltender Taylor Gauthier is one of 40 CHL Players (16 of them from the WHL) selected to play in the 24th annual NHL Top Prospects Game January 23rd in Red Deer.
The players will be divided into Team Cherry and Team Orr by NHL Central Scouting prior to the event.
The 17-year-old Gauthier has a 7-12-1-1 record, to go along with a 3.36 goals-against average and a .892 save percentage.
He has been rated a “B” prospect by Central Scouting, meaning he is a projected 2nd or 3rd round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
PRINCE GEORGE SPRUCE KINGS:
(BCHL)
Prince George Spruce Kings 2 Surrey Eagles 1
Dustin Manz scored his second goal of the game with 2:15 left in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie before 1,335 fans at the RMCA.
The 24-8-1-2 Spruce Kings lead the Mainland Division and BCHL standings by three points over the (24-11) Chilliwack Chiefs.
The same teams meet again tonight in the Spruce Kings final home game in 2018.
Prince George will close out the month at Langley on Thursday and at Surrey on Friday.
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Canada West will play the United States tonight in the semi-finals at the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge in Bonnyville, Alberta.
The other semi today has (4-0) Russia against the Czech Republic.
Winners meet for gold and losers face off for bronze on Sunday.
PG Spruce Kings defenceman Layton Ahac is one of 22 players (14 from the BCHL) that is on the Canada West team that finished third in tthe round robin with a 2-1-1 record.
CARIBOO COUGARS:
(BCMML)
The top two teams in the BC Major Midget League go head to head this weekend at Kin 1.
The 15-4-3 Cariboo Cougars host the (18-3-1) Fraser Valley Thunderbirds this afternoon at 4 and Sunday morning at 10:30 in their final league games prior to the Christmas break.
Fraser Valley has a four-point lead over Cariboo.
CARIBOO COUGARS MINOR MIDGET:
Cariboo Minor Midget Cougars 7 North Island Silvertips 6
Same teams play again this afternoon at 1 and Sunday morning at 7:30 at Kin 1.
The Cariboo 15-year-olds are 10-4-1-1 and in second place, a point ahead of the (10-2-1) Okanagan Rockets and three points back of the first place (12-3-1) Thunderbirds.
North Island is in 4th place in the 10-team league (with an 8-6-2 record).
NHL: (Canadian teams went 3-0 on Friday)
Edmonton 4 Philadelphia 1
The Oilers are 9-2-2 since Ken Hitchcock took over as coach.
Winnipeg 4 Chicago 3 (OT)
Ottawa 4 Detroit 2
The Vancouver Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers tonight and the Edmonton Oilers Sunday.
It is the start of a five-game homestand for the 14-16-4 Canucks.
Vancouver super rookie Elias Pettersson has 11 points in his last five games.
SWIMMING:
Prince George Barracudas swimmer Haley Black finished seventh in the women’s 50-metre butterfly at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Hangzhou, China.
Earlier, the 22-year-old Black set a Canadian record in the preliminary heats of the 50-fly.
Black graduated this year from Auburn University in Alabama and currently trains at the Vancouver High-Performance Center.
Meanwhile, the PG Barracudas are competing at a swim meet today & Sunday in Kamloops.
.@haleymlblack of #PrinceGeorge shows her true colours at World Swim Championships | https://t.co/bxSJmdzeTg #CityOfPG #Sports pic.twitter.com/GIjwiWcnRj
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) December 14, 2018
NBA:
Portland Trail Blazers 128 Toronto Raptors 122
The 23-8 Raptors are 2-for-3 on a four-game Western road trip that wraps up Sunday in Denver vs. the (19-9) Nuggets.
Toronto leads the Eastern Conference by 2 1/2 games over Milwaukee, 3 over Indiana and 3 1/2 over Boston and Philadelphia.
NFL:
There are a pair of Saturday games in the NFL: Houston at the NY Jets (1:30) and Cleveland at Denver (5:20).
Sunday’s action includes Seattle at San Francisco and New England at Pittsburgh.
WORLD CUP BIATHLON:
Megan Tandy of Prince George finished 84th out of 98 in the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint at the BMW World Cup biathlon races in Hochfilzen, Austria.
The 30-year-old Tandy was third of four Canadians and she did not qualify for today’s pursuit.
UNBC TIMBERWOLVES:
17-year-old Kenzie Chilcott of Fort St. John has committed to the UNBC Timberwolves for the 2019 Canada West women’s soccer season.
The five-foot-nine defender will graduate from North Peace Secondary in June and plans to pursue Civil Engineering in her time at UNBC.